Ginette Marcoux | Special to the 51暗网
The Jasper Employment & Education Centre has recently had inquiries from workers in Jasper about emerging workplace issues that we wanted to shed light on after speaking with CRA and Employment Standards, this is what we have learned.
Q. Can an employer who has hired me for a position in a business also include additional hours in my schedule to provide personal childcare or mow lawns or fix tires on personal vehicles as part of my employment?
A. We spoke to Employment Standards about this, they have indicated that employee responsibilities can and do change and yes the above circumstances would be allowed. However, an employee does have the right to quit their employment as this is not what they were hired to do.
When we spoke to the CRA, they had a very different answer especially if employers are using the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Employers can only use the wage subsidy program for their place of business and cannot include any cost of wages incurred in their personal lives. It would be considered fraud to use workers from your business to provide childcare at home and claim it under CEWS.
To report fraud, contact the CRA at 1-866-809-6841 or submit a lead on line at:
Q. My employer has called me back to work and insists it's not busy enough for full time work, we are currently working part time and as a condition of our employment, she is demanding that we volunteer some hours at work. Is this legal?
聽A. This is absolutely illegal, and I would be reporting this to Labour Standards immediately. If you need assistance filing a complaint, please come in and see us as soon as possible. Your employer does not deserve you and you do not deserve to be treated so disrespectfully. I would strongly recommend that you find another job and submit a claim to Labour Standards for all the hours that you volunteered for when you should have been paid. All hours worked MUST BE PAID.
Q. What do I need to know about JOB PROTECTED LEAVE?
A.听 As of March 17, 2020, employees are entitled to a job protected leave to care for ill or self-isolated family members or children affected by school and daycare closures. All employees are eligible for this leave regardless of their length of service, however, employees should be providing notice in writing to their employer that they are unable to return to work and are taking job protected leave. Failure to do this may put workers in precarious positions as far as protecting their jobs. Employees can access this leave as long as the government determines it is needed.听
Employers must grant personal and family responsibility leave to eligible employees and give them their same or equivalent job back when the employee returns to work. Employers are not required to pay wages or benefits during this leave. Employees on this type of leave are considered to be continuously employed for the purposes of calculating years of service. Employees cannot be terminated while on job protected leave.听
For further questions or for more information, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 780.852.4418 or email: [email protected]
